Fake Resistance and the Democrats Resistencia falsa y los demócratas

Fake Resistance and the Democrats

By Josmar Trujillo

Over the weekend, demonstrators rallied in front the of the New York Times building and other media offices to show support for a free press in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s decision to limit the access of certain news organizations. The latest in a line of Trump-inspired protests so far this year, the demonstration did have its silver lining: Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet pointed out that Trump’s behavior has actually driven the number of subscriptions to the paper up.

It’s that symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship between Trump and the media, and by extension Trump and Democrats, that has come to define the political climate of 2017 thus far. Trump attacks immigrants; immigrant rallies are held with Democrats jumping to the front. Trump attacks the media; pro-media rallies are launched by the steady hand of Democrats.

The media rally over the weekend was organized by “Get Organized BK,” an anti-Trump group just created by Democratic Councilmember Brad Lander of Brooklyn.

Obviously Democrats, at every level, think they have the most to gain in the Trump era. However, as they attempt to rebrand themselves as the party of “resistance,” they’ve also laid the groundwork for more discontent among their own ranks.

For as stinging as Hillary Clinton’s defeat was to the party, establishment Democrats have hardly looked into the mirror to reflect. Lining up behind a candidate who once referred to black men as “super predators” and who couldn’t explain NAFTA was not only a mistake, but an incredible sign of arrogance. As Clinton’s campaign hinged on Trump’s apparent missteps, the role of working class champion was ceded to a billionaire developer. Democrats are continuing down this road, choosing to focus on Trump’s bad behavior rather than engaging the issues: poverty, jobs and even globalization.

A recent protest held outside the New York Times building.

More arrogance.

Trump is correct to note that the Times and other media outlets are elite and out of touch. His populist pandering obviously hit a chord last November and will continue to do so if his opponents choose to rally around powerful news organizations instead of regular people.

Still, Democrats eager to show they are part of this “resistance” can’t pull themselves away from the Trump piñata. In the short term, they have much to gain.
Take Mayor Bill de Blasio, currently under federal investigation and deflecting criticism from policing and housing activists. He can reinvent himself as Bill de Blasio, anti-Trump protester. Every Trump tweet or controversy is gift to a mayor neck-deep in questionable donations from, ironically, real estate developers.

What the mayor doesn’t understand is that in the long term, New Yorkers aren’t stupid. His post-inauguration speech alongside celebrities to a mostly white crowd in Manhattan last month stands in stark contrast to a march this month by immigration activists protesting the aggressive policing of immigrants by de Blasio’s (not Trump’s) NYPD. That demonstration ended in the violent arrests of activists.

That hypocrisy and double standard won’t easily be forgotten.

Young and idealistic voices within the Democratic Party may take notice. A generation whose political views have been at least partly shaped by the last few years of protests, including the unresolved question of whether black lives matter, likely don’t want a return to politics as usual. But that’s all the Democrats have to offer them once the phony “resistance” phase of the Trump era has passed.

What better example than New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, another establishment figure with family ties to the party, as a rumored presidential candidate in 2020?
Politics are in a state of turmoil and the Democrats haven’t learned a damned thing.

It’s time to leave them behind.

Josmar Trujillo is a writer, activist and parent based in New York City. He has written and organized around education, policing and disaster recovery. He lives in Spanish Harlem with his two sons.